The Sketchy Command of Pegasus
What exactly is the deal with Pegasus? Reports of an officer being shot in front of the crew by the Admiral. Sexual abuse of Cylon prisoners. Two men not getting a fair trial. In this whole guessing game of "who's a Cylon", it sure seems like Admiral Cain is one of them. "She had no choice" but to launch her alert fighters. To borrow the phrase, "What Would Adama Do?" In this situation, he would have negotiated, talked it through with the insurgent bunch, and found a better end. (I just loved that moment when Adama froze, then gave his orders to launch Vipers.)
It would be nice to think that all of this is "just a dream", but this is not the case. It's a fun little game to watch for the survivor count at the beginning of the show and track the additions and subtractions. Last week there were around 47,859, and this week that increased to 48,604 (for those of you who are reading this in the wee hours of the morning, that's about 750 more people). If this was "all a dream", R&D probably would not have added them to the running total--this tally usually includes everything that happens in the episode. So, Pegasus is not a dream, but there is still something very odd about it. Take everything carnal and essentially evil about humanity and stick it on a ship with a pig of a Lieutenant and a bloodthirsty Admiral at the helm, and you have the Pegasus (what an elegant name for such a savage ship). On Galactica, there is a love for life. Sharon is being treated more like a person, and the bonds of friendship are their source for morale (i.e. the building of the Blackbird). On Pegasus, their is a love for death and detruction. Gross mental and physical abuse* of a Cylon prisoner, running totals of kills on the sides of the Vipers, seemingly regular executions. To me, the most likely explanation is that Admiral Cain is a Cylon, and most of the rest are humans.
*Yet another tantalizing hint from the horse's mouth that Cylons can be crazy, just like humans.
It would be nice to think that all of this is "just a dream", but this is not the case. It's a fun little game to watch for the survivor count at the beginning of the show and track the additions and subtractions. Last week there were around 47,859, and this week that increased to 48,604 (for those of you who are reading this in the wee hours of the morning, that's about 750 more people). If this was "all a dream", R&D probably would not have added them to the running total--this tally usually includes everything that happens in the episode. So, Pegasus is not a dream, but there is still something very odd about it. Take everything carnal and essentially evil about humanity and stick it on a ship with a pig of a Lieutenant and a bloodthirsty Admiral at the helm, and you have the Pegasus (what an elegant name for such a savage ship). On Galactica, there is a love for life. Sharon is being treated more like a person, and the bonds of friendship are their source for morale (i.e. the building of the Blackbird). On Pegasus, their is a love for death and detruction. Gross mental and physical abuse* of a Cylon prisoner, running totals of kills on the sides of the Vipers, seemingly regular executions. To me, the most likely explanation is that Admiral Cain is a Cylon, and most of the rest are humans.
*Yet another tantalizing hint from the horse's mouth that Cylons can be crazy, just like humans.
posted by (and Ernie) at 11:51 PM
11 Comments:
The survivor count went from 47,853 to 49,605.
Great episode. Not sure what to do with my time until January.
One question, really. Why doesn't the President just promote Adama?
Thanks for the clarification.
As far as Adama being promoted by the Roslyn...four possibilities why she didn't do it:
a) That's not the way their legal system works.
b) She forgot about that one--she is a "Kindergarten teacher", after all.
c) Laura is too nice to do something like that.
d) Cain didn't go overtly kill-happy within her knowledge (everything just exploded very quickly without the knowledge of the civilians). In which case, when the President finds out, she may very well promote Adama or put Cain in the brig (if that is allowed by their legal system).
Cain is definitely not a Cylon, and I'm realizing Baltar isn't either.
RDM's trying to show that Cylons and human are the same--both do bad things. The rape-a-thon aboard the Pegasus just goes to show that the farms on Caprica are not unanswered atrocities, as it were. It defeats the purpose of the whole "Cylons are people too" if Cain is a toaster.
Baltar probably isn't because if the fetus within Boomer is his and Six's child, then SOMEONE has to provide the human half--and Six probably ain't doing that. The fact that Six once showed up where everyone could see her also lends credence to the theory that Baltar is not a Cylon.
Everything but Cain's ship and Galactica was affected by a computer virus (Cain has a modern ship, in the dockyard; Galactica is really old and not succeptible). Bombs go off, other ships around them explode, she loses 700 men, orders a jump to anywhere. Now, Cain, in the Bible, is a farmer that kills his brother--the first murderer. The Admiral is a killer.
Pegasus is being used somehow. There will be a Cylon agent somewhere. I agree that it would be effective to make Cain human to show that both can be evil, but we have a wide crop of characters that also show that. As of now, it's up in the air as to who's a Cylon, but from the story, it's most likely that it is Cain.
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I really don't think Cain is a Cylon. If she's a Cylon, then the evil acts on the Pegasus are not based in humanity--Cylons would be the ones that inspired it.
There was something else odd.... Cain's pause when the president asked her "how did you get out?" Cain paused and asks for a drink.... it seemed at that moment that she was stalling to invent a story... or maybe just a way of showing disrespect to the president.
I have a feeling that the story about other battlestars being destroyed, the nukes, loosing 700 men and the blind jump out of space dock are somehow altered from the truth to make herself seem more heroic... my guess is that she did something more cowardly, like running when the other ships were fighting back. It's not just the pause that makes me suspicious, it's also this killing spree she seems to be on. She kills someone she trusts and has worked with for years? For not obeying orders why not throw him into the brig first. I keep thinking that maybe she killed 700 of her own crew.... but that wouldn't make sense. Some members of her crew are obviously in high spirits... I can understand the bridge crew being cowed.... but not the whole ship.
Did anyone notice if there were any female crew members other than Cain on Pegasus? Wouldn't some of the women have objected to the treatment of the cylon? It seemed when they took us to the bridge, that there were no women there. Did Cain "kill her sisters"? Were the 700 crewmen women? Gosh, I'm reasoning this out as I go along.... what if she traded the women to the cylons in order to be allowed to escape the attack. I dunno.... guess the rest of the crew would have noticed they were gone.
Well that's my theory for now... and it's only been 2 days since the end of the season!?
I have to say that this is the most provacative episode yet (and for that reason, the best I have seen so far). Here are my thoughts/responses, in no particular order:
-- Starchild nailed it... Cain's "blind jump" story seems incredible at best. She's hiding something (hence Tigh and Adama's musings about looking at the Pegasus' logbooks seems more like foreshadowing than mere wishful thinking). Did she turn tail and flee? I don't think so... that would have cost her the loyalty of the crew. I would bet that she made some serious tactical error that cost the lives of those 700... an error that somehow, was only known by her and her then XO (setting the stage for his refusal to follow an order and his "elimination").
--Is Cain a Cylon? In short, No. Granted, her behaviour merits her placement on the "suspected Cylon" list, but I cannot jibe "Cain as a Cylon" with the abuse and rape of Six/Gina.
--I must give high marks to the writing in this episode. If the theme of finding the "humanity" of one's enemy hasn't been prevalent enough previously, we got a "2-by-4 over the head's" worth on Friday nite. Unfortunately, this point was entirely lost on the mods over at colonialfleets.com... who thought that the episode was touting gang rape as a valid interrogation technique. This clearly shows that their blind devotion to TOS and/or the Singer-DeSanto project has rendered them unable to consider the new series with anything approaching an open mind. Their loss IMHO. But I digress... I thought that the abuse and rape of Six/Gina and Boomer2 was particularly timely given the Abu-Graib debacle. We sacrifice most, if not all of our humanity when we treat our enemies so. The point was well made in this episode and I salute the writers for taking this topic on.
--I thought that Cain's assessment of the dicipline (or lack thereof) on Galactica was bang on. It was a definite "truth hurts" moment. Ah, but it's so much easier to point out the mote in someone else's eye (while ignoring the plank in your own).
--In response to Starchild's query on female crew aboard Pegasus, I seem to recall some female Viper pilots... they were few and far between tho.
--The pacing of this episode was bang on. The hour disappeared in what seemed like only fifteen minutes. Both my wife and I were caught short by the "to be continued..." We are both ready for January to be here NOW!
BRIEF ASIDE TO adama is a cylon - I need a place to vent some about colonialfleets, could you please make blog entry here for that purpose? Purdy-puhleaze?
Peace!
Reepicheep
That was quite well put. I suppose I have been putting too much in generalities. When I say "this is evil", I mean that the essence of the ship, how it is in general being portrayed is as such.
The coin can indeed easily flip...but you said, "Galactica, in fact, was headed down the very path Pegasus was taking, don't forget." What occasion/circumstance are you talking about? When Tigh took over?
Cain is not a Cylon. She's just the ugly side of humanity. In the end, she's killed by the blond Cylon.
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